Edward VIII became the first English monarch to voluntarily abdicate the throne. On the evening of December 11, 1936, he gave a radio address in which he explained he could not continue carrying on his duties without the help and support of the woman he loved, American divorcée Wallis Warfield Simpson. On December 12, his younger brother, the duke of was proclaimed King George VI. From Victorian England to the long reign of Elizabeth II, bowler hats to the Beatles, Churchill to Diana, this is the extraordinary saga of one of the most emblematic royal families of all times, and a story of betrayal, jealousy, espionage, power, arranged marriages, love, and scandal.